ARTICLES

Billionaire opposition politician Bidzina Ivanishvili’s public movement, Georgia Dream, one of its donors and the latter’s employer firm, affiliated with Ivanishvili, have been fined with GEL 200,000 (about USD 120,000) each for donation which the state audit agency said was a sham transaction aimed at bypassing restrictions set by the political funding legislature.

On February 25, opposition activist Lasha Chkhartishvili was arrested in Kikvidze garden, Tbilisi. He protested deforested plants and construction of police office in Kikvidze Garden during several days. On the same day, five more people were arrested in the same garden; they are Mikheil Meskhi, Giorgi Apkhaidze, Dato Patsatsia, Giorgi Paresishvili and Teimuraz Murvanidze, who protested detention of Lasha Chkhartishvili and requested his immediate release.

Victims of the building company Center Point protested in front of the parliament with the slogan “Cottage Cheese for Rusudan” and brought cottage cheese to the vice-speaker of the parliament of Georgia Rusudan Kervalishvili [former owner of the Center Point]. The victims said she can have the cottage cheese.

Famous Ossetian journalist and blogger Maria Plieva is in Hamburg, Germany now. She was a nominee of the international organization “Reporters without Border “for the Scholarship of the Hamburg Foundation for Politically Persecuted People; she received the scholarship and now she will live and study in Germany for the next one year.

On February 22, prisoner Gocha Archaia, 41, died in the Gldani Jail Hospital # 18. His health conditions were extremely grave. Although he suffered from several acute diseases, he was not released from imprisonment before death.

The state is going to undertake responsibility to solve the problems of informational safety of major private and state departments. The information protected in the computer systems of these departments will be accessible while eradication of the problem created in the system.

Who is Levan Karamanishvili new owner of 90% of Rustavi 2 and Mze companies? 40-year-old Karamanishvili besides being a famous poker player (he participated in the tournament Russian Poker Series 2011 held in kiev), is a relative of businessman Gia Karamanishvili, close friend of President Saakashvili.

Early in the morning of February 20, 2012 Valery Gelbakhiani was arrested on Georgian-Armenian border. The former MP and head of late Badri Patarkatsishvili’s election HQ is accused of conspiracy to alter the constitutional structure of Georgia by violence, to overthrow the government or grab power.

The state audit agency in charge of monitoring political finances recommended the ruling National Movement party to relinquish part of its last year’s donations and demanded from billionaire opposition politician Bidzina Ivanishvili’s movement to do the same with GEL 20,000, which the agency claims, was obtained through sham deal.

In 2011, Government of the Adjara Autonomous Republic sold more than 30 hectares of land for 1 GEL. The part of the land is located in the Old Batumi and on the coastline; another part is located in several villages of Adjara. The documents obtained by the Batumelebi prove that a friend of Ilham Aliev’s (President of Azerbaijan) daughter also received a part of the present. Last week, the Batumelebi tried to find out how the state can benefit from this decision.

Prisoner Tamar Talikadze from Rustavi Women’s Colony is still on a hunger strike. She is requesting re-investigation of her case. Lawyer of Human Rights Center Eka Kobeashvili met her several days ago and heard her requests and the case details.

Part of society thinks introduction of religious studies in public schools might breach principles of democratic and secular state. However, the democratic norms and principles envisage and require similar education because in a liberal-democratic state only one confession cannot be supported and all others (of course we do not mean the ideologies which threatens healthy and safe development of the society) prohibited. Secular state does not mean atheist state which prohibits existence of religious unions or religious education in public schools.

New electoral legislation creates non-democratic electoral environment, is unconstitutional and restricts fundamental human rights and freedoms! It concerns every individual and organization and it must be changed.

“Like our president’s loud statements in foreign countries that we have defeated corruption in Georgia, I will also state loudly that there is corruption in our country, Georgia” a leader of Free Democrats Levan Izoria said at the press-conference and presented the scheme of monopolization of market of oil-products and artificial increase of petrol price.

Non-governmental organization New Generation – New Initiative requests the Constitutional Court to change terms for the parliamentary and presidential elections. They request to hold parliamentary elections in May of 2012 and presidential election in January of 2013.

After the Parliament of Georgia is moved to Kutaisi, journalists will not be able to work in the session hall with individual video-cameras. Part of journalists thinks it will have negative impact on the transparency of the parliament, but another part refrains from commenting the issue.